By Georgia I. Hesse

BATW Event, Spinnaker restaurant - Photo by Mike Moyle

Some BATW members arrived at Sausalito’s Spinnaker restaurant on Jan. 21 to find new attractions in a familiar setting. The view stretching down the bay to San Francisco sparkled as usual, but the swirl of a wine glass showed off the nose not of a California chardonnay or cabernet but of a spicy Chilean pinot noir or smoky syrah.

One drama for the day was the sipping of a compelling carménère, the signature grape of Chile, a big wine unafraid of accompanying the national favorite pastel de choclo (corn and meat pie) or even an Indian curry or a Mexican mole.

Both meat and cheese empanadas also found themselves on the menu, but from San Francisco’s Mission rather than from Chile.

Sausalito, as it turns out, is a sister city (since 1960) of Chile’s chic Viña del Mar in the Valparaiso region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was delighted to discover that fact, thanks to BATW member Lee Daley, who arranged the smashing affair.

A superb PowerPoint presentation by Michael R. Moyle of the Sausalito-Viña del Mar Working Group led off the meeting with an inventive look at the geography of Chile superimposed on a map of the United States. If it were a state, it would rank in size as fifth largest, between Florida and Illinois, stretching almost 2,700 miles long but an average of only 110 miles wide. It’s a skinny and immensely varied land running like a ribbon from Peru in the north to the tip of the continent at Cape Horn, or about the distance from San Diego to Alaska.

Moyle’s photography – of the rarely visited astronomical installations in the Atacama desert (considered the world’s driest, not incidentally) – added to his literary references (Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, Isabel Allende of San Rafael) and discussion of indigenous tribes and favorite local foods, inspiring his attentive audience to want to take off for Chile right now!

Paula Tejeda - Photo by Mike Moyle

BATW’s thanks are due to Rebecca Chapa, West Coast ambassador for Wines of Chile in San Francisco (www.winesofchile.org), and to Paula Tejeda, owner and founder of Chile Lindo, gourmet delicatessen and coffee shop on 16th Street in the Mission (www.ChileLindo.com) for empanadas.

Interesting and honored guests included the distinguished Rolando F. Ortega, consul general of Chile in San Francisco, and the entertaining mayor of Sausalito, Herb Weiner.

Most of all, perhaps, we are indebted to Jeffrey P. Scharosch of the Spinnaker restaurant for our warm welcome. On a beautiful day, there is no more pleasant place to be.

[Ed. Note: For more about Chilean wines and our wine tasting, see "Savoring Chile, One Sip at a Time" by Carolyn Koenig, in this month's Articles.]

by Carolyn Koenig

Spinnaker Wine Tasting - Photo by Mike Moyle

As with all things vino, the proof is in the tasting. And tasting we BATW members did, at our January event at the Spinnaker restaurant in Sausalito.

The theme of the meeting was Sausalito’s sister-city relationship with Viña del Mar, Chile—located near Valparaiso—and wine is one of the big connectors. We in California share a similar Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers, and geographic features such as rich, fertile valleys, mountains (in Chile’s case, the really steep Andes) and the Pacific Ocean—all of which combine to provide ideal conditions for grape growing.

Currently, about 290,500 acres of wine grapes are under production in this long, narrow sliver of South America (about 2,700 miles long and an average of 110 miles wide). Interestingly, due to Chile’s unique geography, all of the vine roots are natural—no grafting—as there are no pests to damage them (specifically phylloxera).

Rebecca Chapa, West Coast ambassador for Wines of Chile, a trade group that promotes Chilean wines, offered these samples, with a reminder that “There is a Chilean wine to suit every palate and every dish”:

• Castillo de Molina Reserva Sauvignon Blanc San Pedro 2010, Elqui Valley
• Eco Balance Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Emiliana Vineyards, DO Valle de Casablanca
• Vina Chocalan Sauvignon Blanc Seleccion 2010, Maipo Valley
• Matetic Vineyards EQ Pinot Noir 2007, DO San Antonio
• Los Vascos Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Colchagua Valley
• San Pedro 1865 Carmenere 2009, Maule Valley (my personal favorite)
• Apaltagua Carmenere Reserve 2010, Colchagua

“The wines were chosen to show the diversity of what Chile has to offer and the different styles of wine that are successful across its wine-growing areas,” Rebecca said in a recent interview. “Amazingly, the country has just about every type of climate that you could imagine; thus it is ideally suited to grow multiple varieties successfully.”

Of note, she said, is the fact that “Distinct flavor profiles in the wines from various regions are unique, so sauvignon blanc grown in Elqui versus that grown in other areas (Casablanca and Curico in this case) differs pretty significantly.”

Thanks go to Rebecca—and Paula Tejeda of Chile Lindo for the empanadas that accompanied them—for the opportunity to savor this taste of Chile.

This was the scene of the BATW 2011 Christmas party. Along with that Guinness, two accomplished Irish dancers from Program Chair Erin Caslavka’s dance group treated us to several jigs, customarily performed at a feis, (festival). As Erin’s fiancé John spun the CD selections, we stood starry-eyed as the duet lifted, kicked and cut to the beat (bring one foot up with a sharp point to the opposite hip), back and forth and side to side. Erin herself took a deep breath and slid her heels into the graceful slip jig, with athletic lifts (high straight one-leg kicks). The program ended with the trio stepping high and our hands clapping loud.

Between the numbers, members gathered at tables and gazed at playing cards in their hands, listening for Co-President Kris Carber to call their card. Laurie King heard “red joker” and soon held Lee Foster’s books Travels In An American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography Of Our Time and The Photographer’s Guide To San Francisco. “I’ve wanted these,” shares Laurie.

My guest, Will Southard, heard “six of clubs” (no setup here!), and after the meeting he packed a travel wallet and stringed backpack into his motorcycle bag for a safe ride home.

Emma Krasov won a bottle of wine. “When I went up to get it, I looked for the familiar shape!”

As the festivities evolved, several members shared with me their feelings about BATW and their New Year resolutions.

Past President Diane LeBow considered her four-year stint and summed up, “I am happy with the superb leadership we have and how people stepped up this past year.” Looking ahead to 2012, Diane smiles. “I want to get my book done, about personal transition and travel.”

Bob Cooper resolves to “find two to three new places to write on a regular basis.” Whew! We share that with you, Bob. If Bob needs an incentive to pitch, he need only look at the sketches on the dessert plates he won with the nine of spades he held.

Morton Beebe, whose mother carried him as a one-year-old across the Golden Gate Bridge on opening day in 1937, looks forward to the upcoming celebration. “2012 is the bridge’s 75^th anniversary, and I want my book finished and published.”

Suzie Rodriquez, aka Suzie Rod, her eyes echoing the sparkle in the room, says, “BATW is a place important for making friends in life. I always feel I’m with family when I walk into a meeting.”

Lakshman Ratnapala calls BATW, “one of the finest forums for networking,” as he flashes on the future with, “May there be peace on earth.”

Bob Ecker wrote about Clement Street 20 years ago: “I called it the new Chinatown.” He has been a member for 10 years and raised his glass to BATW, “a soft spot in my heart.”

Co-president Kris Carber looks ahead in the New Year to “putting out my first e-guidebook.” The smile on her husband’s face testified that she could not ask for a more ardent supporter and accomplice.

Tom Wilmer, who plays Santa all year with his inspiration and insouciance, looks forward “being nicer!”

A few quiet stars sat on a table against the wall, juicy portobello and turkey sandwiches along with a delicious salad, topped by a holiday-frosted cake with Happy Holidays from BATW inscribed.

One missing star was Co-President Ginny Prior, who offered her wishes via e-mail: “Have a wonderful holiday season, and I’ll be thinking of you all at the holiday party – as I’m shoveling snow in my mom’s Minnesota driveway.”

After lunch, Program Chair Erin Caslavka took a moment to recap the year’s programs, which included first-ever evening meetings. Program locations ranged from cosmopolitan San Francisco to rural Petaluma. She thanked the volunteers who stepped up to make them remarkable and instructive.

Kris Carber reflected on the year and commented on the collaborative spirit. She assured us she “looks forward to working with the Board of Directors in the New Year, a special group of people committed to help.” Kris applauded Erin for her work, noting that “she has really stepped up to the plate.”

Kris continued the surprises — well after we quenched our thirsts and received our hugs. A bucket of red roses stood by the side of the front door, and each member selected one as a party favor, and what a party it was.

As we pulled our coats around us, exited and looked up, our eyes caught the sign. They captured the moon shining on the farmer with the plough, stars on its handle, his deft hands planting the seeds of tomorrow, erasing any cloudiness of commitment to our craft, and inviting a new year to put a gust into our collective creativity.

[Ed. Note: Thanks to Elisa for this lively recap of BATW's holiday event.]

A SENSE OF TRAVEL . . . With Georgia Hesse

Sri Lanka Map

Sri Lanka boasts more names than there are grains of rice in a paddy – Ceylon (British colonial name, dropped in 1972), Serendip (from the Persian fairytale “The Three Princes of Serendib,” employed by Horace Walpole to coin the word “serendipity” in 1754), Taprobanê, Pa-Outchow (“isle of gems” in Chinese), and many, many more.

Sri Lanka is a never-never land, a phantasmagoria, a mythosphere. Dangling like a teardrop off the southeast coast of India, only slightly larger than West Virginia, she crowds into her space primeval jungles where leopards  lurk; swatches of arid desert; wide beaches both boutique-chic in Bentota and Galle and business-bustle in Trincomalee; hill country where brilliant green tea estates stun the eye.

Around Ratnapura, precious gems hide in water-filled alluvial pits in the shadows of 7,360-foot Adam’s Peak, a point holy to four religions: Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Muslim. Each cites the footprint impressed on a boulder at the  summit. Was it made by Adam as the Muslims say, or by Gautama Buddha or by Lord Shiva during a dance or by St. Thomas the Apostle, as Roman Catholics believe? I know only that more yellow butterflies flutter there than anywhere on earth and that the greeting most uttered by pilgrims along the trails to the top is “karunavai”: peace.

Rocks that rose from the ocean in Mesozoic times (150 million years ago, perhaps), brought to the commerce of antiquity a generosity of gems  plucked from the dreams of the Queen of Sheba and Cleopatra,  Elizabeth Taylor and Catherine the Great: rubies, alexandrites, aquamarines, amethysts, tourmalines, cat’s eyes, garnets, zircons, and sapphires, always sapphires, including the 400-carat Blue Belle that adorns the British Crown.

Somewhere in childhood we became enchanted with the ruins of Greece and Rome, of India and of Egypt. Of Ceylon-Sri Lanka we are ignorant. Our books say nothing of Anuradhapura, of Polonnaruwa or Mihintale or Sigiriya. These have the unfinished, random, insubstantial qualities of dreams. Unlike in Pompei or Ephesus, the only structures deserving to endure were those dedicated to the Buddha. Wood and clay sufficed for profane places, houses and shops and arenas which have by now been swallowed by the earth.

Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Human settlement began in Anuradhapura, the ancient capital, in about 500 B.C.E.  In the annals of monumental masonry, the ruins rank second only to the pyramids of Egypt. The king dwelt in a bejeweled palace of 1,000 chambers, but when the city fell in the 10^th century, only the holy Bo tree, the Sri Maha Bodhi, was supported as the relic of past splendors. In its shade, Buddha himself gained enlightenment. Attacked by a bad blight in 1950, it was saved by wizards from the Smithsonian Institution.

Anuradhapura is nearly inexhaustible. Do not miss the Jetavanarama, most massive earthmound of its kind on earth. Bulging atop eight acres, it is larger than all but two of Egypt’s pyramids. Just 32 miles away, the Aukana Buddha  stands four stories tall. His name means “sun-eating.” Visit him at dawn.

Anuradhapura endured for 1,400 years through the reigns of 123 kings. Her successor, Polonnaruwa, lasted for two centuries (the 11^th to 13^th) and a dozen rulers. Its centerpiece, the Terrace of the Tooth Relic or, more simply, The Quadrangle, a grouping of 12 superb structures, stands in the center of the city. The huge “tank” or irrigation lake that served as lifeblood was constructed by a thousand men working 24 hours a day for at least 12 years.

Of all the prodigious artworks of Polonnaruwa, the four 12th-century sculptures known as the Gal Vihara will most startle your senses. Who first imagined attacking a wall of granite with a chisel (?) and “releasing” (previewing Michelangelo) the spirits of Buddha that lived within the stone? One poses proudly, his arms crossed, his expression calm, his body relaxed, standing 23 feet tall. (In fact, this is not Buddha but a favorite disciple, Ananda.)

Sculptures at the Gal Vihara, Sri Lanka

Near Ananda, a 46-foot Buddha reclines, entering into the state of parinibbana, relinquishing human existence and blissfully entering  Enlightenment. (Nibbana we know as nirvana.) His head depresses his pillow slightly; his form as serenely undisturbed as it has remained for nine centuries. When he awakes, we will have passed beyond time.

And now we leave? Not before we have beheld the stupendous red stone monolith that soars 600 feet out of densely green scrub jungle into the high blue of sky. This is the Citadel of Sigiriya, a rocky fortress crowned by a fabled palace that presided here 16 centuries ago – and endured for only 18 years. Its ruins stretch across the bulk of Lion Rock; the site settles into the memory with all the mystery of myth. Once a pilgrim had to ascend through the stony jaws and throat (“giriya”) of a lion (“sinha”), whose shape was sculpted halfway up the monolith.

Today, you mount a stairway between gigantic paws with terrifying toenails. Within a grotto on the western face, bare-breasted maidens smile and frolic; Asia’s oldest landscape gardens survive as do lovely ponds, rippled by a lazy breeze. Hold your breath. Nothing in “Star Wars” surpasses Sigiriya.

So did the program, organized by Erin Caslavka and Associate Member Molly Blaisdell. The meeting was called to near-order by Co-president Ginny Prior promptly at 11:30. Treasurer Bill Scull explained how to renew one’s membership (go to Services on the members’ page and click on the final item: Renewals Membership). Erin then eased through a compelling calendar of upcoming monthly meetings (if it’s January, it must be Sausalito and the Spinnaker).

Scrooge (a.k.a. Martin Harris, just in from London and Gravesend, fittingly) then did a dastardly turn on the upcoming Dickens Christmas Fair (Exhibition Halls, next to the Cow Palace, four weekends, Nov. 25-Dec. 18; check on the Victorian villainy at www.dickensfair.com). This wicked wizardry plays its 33rd year in the Bay Area.

Following a scrumptious luncheon, complete with wines, a praise-worthy panel—Spud Hilton, travel editor of the S.F. Chronicle; Andy Murdock, U.S. digital editor, Lonely Planet, and Kristin Zibell of www.takeyourbigtrip.com—talked, informatively, about blogging. They spoke of quality, content, personality, story-telling, and uniformly derided “random blogging of uneventful lives,” in Hilton’s felicitous phrase.

Dessert and champagne were served in a corner of the sky-soaring lobby as Santa Claus and Scrooge (!) handed out a few prizes. Christmas came early this year so far as BATW members were concerned.

Happy Holidays to all!

—By Georgia Hesse (Photo by Lee Foster)

[Ed. Note: See “Media Marketplace a Huge Success,” in Articles for details on the Associates Event held following the November meeting.]

For Active Members of BATW, the finest gifts of all were those provided by the 17 Associate Members (and potential Associates) who turned out for the Media Marketplace to supply information about their clients: facts, figures, and other essentials that form the spine of any travel story about destinations in the Bay Area. It is all too easy to overlook the variety and vivacity of our region, as the Associates reminded all the writers in attendance.

Imagination was rekindled and determination to do more and better work re-energized. (Even a few New Year’s resolutions may have been reborn!) Thanks to everyone who participated in this media marketplace (see list below), and to our energetic associate organizer and board member, Molly Blaisdell, of Hook, Line & Thinker (pictured in this post). Let’s get cracking!

—By Georgia Hesse

Media Marketplace Participants:

• Renee Roberts Marketing & Public Relations
• San Francisco Travel Association
• Chamberlin Public Relations
• Joie de Vivre Hotels
• Ellipses PR
• Charles Public Relations
• Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association
• Redding Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Broadway by the Bay
• A2 Communications
• Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association
• San Mateo County/Silicon Valley Convention & Visitor’s Bureau
• Visit Berkeley
• Sacramento CVB
• DSA PR
• Hook, Line & Thinker
• Issima! PR

by Georgia Hesse

In the splashy company of sharks, skates, sea stars and jellyfish, BATW members met at Pier 39’s Aquarium of the Bay on Oct. 20. The unusual evening “mixer” event starred David Perry, principal of David Perry & Associates, a communications firm specializing in social media, among other essential abstractions.

David’s message, welcome to me and (I’m certain) several others, was that “content is king.” He encouraged writers in the direction of “brand focus” (get yourself together) and did his very best (really good) to explain the public relations vs. marketing quagmire. Specific social media examined included YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. He also explained, somewhat surprisingly to me, that women of 50 years and older constitute the fastest-growing population of social media users and bloggers.

Storytelling is, as Perry stressed, the art of the matter. As I listened, I became convinced that, for professionals at least and those who do not care what other writers order for lunch, LinkedIn is the answer of choice. For those scribblers who resent the categorization of “content” suppliers (I’m among them), the term “fresh content” made me realize that here, as elsewhere, there’s room for more and newer voices.

“Social media is dialogue” seemed to me an important message from the evening presentation, and I also learned the expression “#hashtag,” especially geared toward Twitter talk. I suggest you Google it and see what it means of importance to you.

I left David Perry’s company feeling that I had learned something of importance and that, even more important, I have much left to learn about social media.

On a distinctly more familiar note, the Aquarium of the Bay opened in 1966 in San Francisco. Kati Schmidt, its public relations manager, reminded us that it is home to more than 20,000 aquatic animals from San Francisco Bay and nearby waters, of nearly 200 different species. (Do you know a rock fish? Can you spot a rock fish? Have you stepped on a stonefish? Not likely; if so, you might be dead.)

Following Perry’s program, members oohed and aahed through the tunnel tanks on moving sidewalks that travel for 300 feet through Bay water where the captivating creatures of the sea cruise confidently by and above. It’s a wonderment.

More than 600,000 fishophiles visit the Aquarium each year, an impressive number of them enthusiastic children. Check out www.aquariumofthebay.com for further information and diversions. To visit David Perry, try www.davidperry.com.